The internet is getting worse by the day. Platforms like Google, Facebook or Amazon are getting unusable – crammed with intrusive ads, user surveillance and AI slop content. Tech workers who used to add value for users are laid off to improve share prices. It’s all part of the big tech playbook to build monopolies, degrade user experience, exploit staff, and lock us into broken systems. Tech critic Cory Doctorow calls the process ‘enshittification’.
Back in November, we held a webinar with Cory and tech sector union activists from Prospect, UTAW and Unite, to explore how the concept of enshittification affects tech workers and users alike – and how unions have a big role in the fight back against Big Tech’s worst instincts.
It was a really interesting conversation, and you can watch the recording here.
Cory’s book “Enshittification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it” is available from all good bookshops (as well as giant, enshittified ones) and is published by Verso.